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Friday, 26 March 2010

You know things are bad when....

ORRVILLE, Ohio — The J.M. Smucker Co. is closing four plants and cutting 700 jobs, about 15 percent of its workforce, the food maker said Wednesday.

The company, which makes Folgers Coffee, Smucker's jams and other products, said it is closing its fruit-spread plants in Memphis, Tenn., and Ste. Marie, Quebec, and moving the bulk of its production to Orrville, Ohio, where the company is headquartered. Smucker is also closing its coffee plants in Sherman, Texas, and Kansas City, Mo., to consolidate all its coffee production into its plant in New Orleans.

While I realize that they're not going out of business entirely, the fact that Smuckers can't flourish in America feels like more than I can bear. Who didn't grow up on Smuckers? My favorite is the black raspberry jam. My grandmother used to use it in one of her famous cakes.

News that the J. M. Smucker Co. plans to close its Parkway Village-area plant by 2013 is sad news on two fronts.

The company has been a fixture here since 1969, making jellies, jam, fruit syrups and ice cream toppings. It also provides good-paying manufacturing jobs, of which this city sorely needs more.

Smucker is restructuring its supply chain and building a state-of-the-art plant in Ohio, its home base. It is also closing plants in Quebec, Texas and Kansas City.

This seems to be a case where Memphis' reputation as a distribution center was not a factor in Smucker's decision. And, sadly, the closings are part of a steady drumbeat of the loss of manufacturing jobs that is affecting many parts of the country.

Local officials, however, plan to spread it on thick in an effort to keep the company in Memphis. For the sake of Smucker's 161 employees, let's hope they're successful.

Comments

Being a mere mortal, I've never tasted ambrosia, but I've always assumed that the food of the gods tasted nowhere near as good as Smucker's Cherry Preserves. Cherry or raspberry, you're dead right on the main point: this is sad news -- and a glum omen. The painful truth is that many of these jobs will not come back. The recession has forced industries to shrink their biggest expense by getting rid of workers and boosting productivity by other means. That's what they've done, and, in the process, they've learned that they can get the results they need with fewer people. It's a fundamental management dogma that improved productivuty is a sign of "progress"_ -- but I doubt that any of those laid-off Smucker workers see anything progressive in their plight. The really deplorable thing is that all this life-wrecking emphasis on cutting payrolls could have been prevented by one simple move: decreasing -- not increasing -- government intrusion in the private sector. Cutting taxes, slashing regulations, letting the market do its thing -- it would have worked. But all of that is stuff the Left cannot abide. What a pity!